Thank you for the info and comparison, appreciate it. Others who know more can chime in, but the GS Allegheny sound like the pellets we used to know as "Stove Chow".
I don't think they are. I believe Chows were a HW/SW mix while the Allegheny's are a HW. Also, these burn a lot hotter than the Chows I got way back when. I didn't take a temp when I ran the chows, but my notes say they were average. I had been running FSU's for a couple of years, which is what I determined an "average" pellet should be at that time - those ran at 245-250*. Maybe I misunderstood what you were alluding to, and were making the comparison as a pellet than ran a lot better than expected for a BBS pellet.
I have 2 bags of Stove Chows left over from a couple of years back. And I have a fresh ton of GS Allegheny I picked up last week. If (time and hardware) I can rig up a decent temp probe setup I can conduct back-to-back tests of new GS Allegheny vs. old Stove Chows. If you guys are interested. ---Nailer---
Ahh... Home depots finest go-to pellets back then.. not the worst. not the best... but the price was right..
If you have the time, it would be cool to see the results. I’d be interested in seeing how they hold up vs. The Chows that many many of us burned for years.
8400 btu is not too bad concidering most box store hardwoods are in the lower 8K.. Have seen some stated as low as 7900.. have ditched the good softwoods after many yrs due to price is too much these days.. I'll deal with more ash... burning Hamer Hots and Barefoot this winter...but, still have 3 tons of NW douglas firs sitting in the basement to draw on for bitter nights... Bought few yrs ago when price was under 400. Around 570.00 ton now.....
Yeah I agree I’ll deal with a little more ash then pay $ 9 a bag. I also like the durability of these pellets. I’m noticing the softwoods are getting more crumbly and dusty.
I think anymore that the GS just goes back to their base camp (Colorado?) so don't really give any useful info. At least that seemed to be the case last year. They even took the "flavor" off the bags (or did for what was sold locally - which was probably the Northeast blend). Which sux because some stores in NH used to get a different blend while those around me got the Northeast blend (NEWPS) Well, all they are telling you is 8,400 is the max. They aren't saying the minimum and they took the names off. Those might be northeast blend (NEWPs) which are 8-8.3k. Although you being in MA, they might be a different flavor. The below if from the NEWP GS site Ah, found the chart that used to be available on their website
From what I can come up with it appears they are the same pellets just new packaging, notice the max on this bag is 8800 ( probably douglas firs )vs the above bag that is 8400
Yeppers, Sad to say we won't see the useful info(mill) they used to have on their bags. All the mills might be bagging with the same UPC code now? Anywho, There could also be a few surprises along the way going by some of the info I spotted on the revamped liggies site.
The bottom line for me is do they burn clean, throw decent heat and reasonably priced. So far so good. We’ll see what happens when the temperatures Drop and the stove is running 24/7.
I have never seen GS softies those around here - always HW blend (or occasionally straight HW). Looking at the GS site, those in the green bag are made from sawmill residue (not saying that is a bad thing, as long as it is cleaned up) Hmmm, NEWP softies? Interesting. I wonder if my local Agway has any to try out - they always carry NEWPS. The NEWP plant is 4-5 miles from their home base store (which is a bit over 20 miles from my local store). But I also wonder the price difference between the HW blend and the softies - especially since the BTU range is exactly the same as the GS HW blend (up to 8.4k BTU as opposed to up to 8.8k BTU for the GS). I do like that blurb about the coffee ground additive, should be interesting to see what kind of difference that makes. .
I have never seen the softwoods around me either, unfortunately us east coasters miss out on alot of the good softwoods
I found it interesting too, Could kick up the BTU's a bunch depending on the amount added. I can also imagine some other brands might also consider this. In the coffee pellets thread Scot L had mentioned he had looked into it.
I noticed your bag says made in Canada and after searching I believe lignetics bought energex Canada and I am seeing the same in western mass and burning them now ashy but 285 a ton from tractor supply
